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August 2, 2014

MESSENGER Flies Over Mercury

NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft captured this video during a flyover of Mercury’s north pole on June 8, 2014.

The image frames were taken once per second while MESSENGER was at altitudes ranging from 115 to 165 kilometers, traveling at a speed of 3.7 kilometers per second relative to the surface. The movie is sped up by a factor of seven for ease of viewing. The images have resolutions ranging from 21 to 45 meters/pixel.